It's not what you think. I was on my best behaviour; it's not my fault that Shopper's has their queue for the prescription pick-up perfectly physically distanced down the family planning aisle. Also, Billy Joel's "You may be wrong, I may be right" could be heard overhead. I like that song. So, as I usually do when I'm killing time I started to sing and move.. I'd been sitting all day so it felt good AND the sun was shining outside... so...there. Anyhow, there I was, happily strutting my stuff, checking out the myriad of family planning options (I mean seriously, how many different types of condoms to women and men need? If I was a teenager today, trying to figure that out in a hurry... it's not helpful), and a woman about my age came up to me, straining to see round at the shelves but grinning at my epic dance moves.
"Oh sorry! Am I in your way?" I dramatically side-stepped to give her a better view of the ribbed and tickled selections to my right. She looked at me with mock horror and shook her head vigorously...."Oh heavens no dear.. my days of looking for that kind of thing are long over, I'm more in the mood for extra strength Tylenol!". I laughed out loud. So did she.
It crossed my mind that other product placement would be similarly brilliant so I cast a glance down towards the incontinence end of things (pun intended). Sure enough, across the aisle.... stool softeners... those sneaky marketers, they make it so easy!.
End of life stuff should be this easy too. Seriously, if we, the public, followed the same logic we'd have all we needed for end of life care well matched and sorted in our own homes. Most of the time these sorts of plans are shoved, with the will, in the back of the filing cabinet in a beige envelope with no title, just a business card taped to the front. We tuck death away. Families are often left scrambling to make medical or property decisions based on what they think their loved one would like. Not a sound decision making framework and one that certainly can lead to arguments and hard feelings. It would be so much more helpful for families to honour their loved ones care needs to have them planned and accumulated into one central folder opposite the first aid kit and the baby aspirin, or a photo of our ideal death bed in with the planning papers. Let's make it easier for loved ones to find and carry out our final wishes rather than having to navigate the aisles of memory in an effort to sort out what's important. Let's talk, laugh and embrace our aging and our dying. Let's leave more time for dancing...
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